As historically black colleges boom, new leadership on tap

It was a hopeful changing of the guard last week in Greensboro, as Stanley Battle, the new chancellor at N.C. A&T State University, grasped the ceremonial mace while hundreds of Aggies watched.

The event marked a new beginning for the UNC system's largest historically black university after months of unpleasant news. The interim chancellor, Vic Hackley, had uncovered financial abuse and administrative chaos so serious that it required a SWAT team of UNC auditors to investigate.

Hackley, widely praised for his handling of the situation, barely had time to hand the reins to Battle before he was dispatched to his next assignment: dealing with problems at Fayetteville State University, where a new nursing program is in jeopardy and the campus awaits the results of a state audit. The chancellor of four years, T.J. Bryan, had abruptly announced her resignation just as Battle's welcoming party got under way.

Four of the state's five public historically black universities will have new leaders within a month, and some say an infusion of fresh vision is in order. While the campuses have experienced explosive growth, fatter budgets and campus makeovers during the past few years, their graduation rates are anemic, and a few academic programs are in trouble. As the UNC system looks to a continued enrollment boom and new accountability measures, the new leaders will be key to the success of their campuses.

This from the News Observer (North Carolina).